I Wish
by Cheeseburger of Doom
Summary: [Warlords 7, ToriShishi] He wishes for a better life, so that his beloved may learn happiness; so that he might understand peace. He wishes for a different life, so that he could stay with his beloved forever. Wishes don't always come true.


A/N: Not all of the Warlords series stories are crack pairings. All of them are, indeed, on crack, however. Especially this one. What was I _thinking_? Ah well.

Warnings: Character death(s), violence, much angst, immoral stuff, violence, violence, death, um...you know all this already, right? There are minor religious themes in this one (due to the Ohtori -- though I have been informed that he is not in fact a religious type...this is AU), no offense intended (don't think there's anything that would offend anyone, anyway, but just in case)  
  
Oh -- and the title is "I Wish" which is, of course, the name of Ohtori's Love of Prince song. I didn't do that on purpose, though -- the story is about Ohtori's wish...I found out it was the title of his song only afterwards. How appropriate.

Warlords #7:

I Wish

Shishido and Ohtori were the unbeatable pair. No one ever got the better of them. They had been born to live together, breathe together, fight together.

They'd been in love almost forever. They had always been together, and they just developed a relationship naturally. They would always be together.

Atobe's gang wasn't so bad. Ohtori hated the fighting, and Shishido hated when Ohtori got upset, but that was the way their life was, and would always be. At least Atobe wasn't some crazy tyrant, like that Mizuki guy who led one of the other gangs.

Shishido accepted his life. Ohtori didn't.

Most nights, as they were drifting off to sleep, Ohtori would stare at the ceiling of their room in the condemned building that they called home, and wonder what it would be like to sleep beside Shishido in a real bed, in a real house. He imagined it until it almost felt real; then the illusion would fade, and he would feel an emptiness that never went away.

He wanted Shishido to be able to live with him in that dream house.

-----

Ohtori had been born into the gang, but his mother hadn't. She'd been brought in by his father. She'd been very religious, and had hated every moment; but she'd loved Ohtori's father very much, and had never left him.

She'd taught Ohtori a lot about religion, before she died. She'd even given him a cross, and told him to keep it close to his heart, always. No matter what happened, she said, believe that God will save you.

Ohtori hoped that God still loved him, even after all that he'd done. He was just trying to survive in this world, so that he could be with Shishido. That was all he really wanted; to stay with Shishido.

Well, he wanted more than that -- he wanted to be with Shishido in a different world, one where there was less pain, but that world didn't seem to exist. He would have to be content with his life as it was. As long as Shishido was beside him, he _could_ be content.

-----

The first time that Shishido received a serious injury, the guilt nearly destroyed Ohtori. He'd been _right there_, and he'd done nothing. Of course he had tried, but he'd failed. That was what counted.

"Don't blame yourself," Shishido said. "It wasn't your fault I was careless."

Ohtori blamed himself, anyway. He sat with Shishido hour after hour, changing his bandages, watching him sleep, holding his hand. The injury was not fatal, but Ohtori was more afraid now than he'd ever been.

What if next time, the injury _was_ fatal?

-----

They'd been together forever, and still, Ohtori called Shishido by his last name. It was more out of force of habit than anything. Calling him "Ryo" just sounded wrong. He was Shishido. His Shishido.

It was a habit that Shishido tried to break him of endlessly, with no success whatsoever.

"I'd like to hear you call me Ryo just once, before I die," Shishido said, once.

"Don't talk about dying." Ohtori could hardly breathe when Shishido said things like that, even when it was only a joke.

"Sorry, Choutarou. I'm not going to die and leave you behind, I promise. We'll stay together," he said.

A weak smile appeared on Ohtori's face. "Together, forever."

-----

In a perfect world, they would never have had to worry about dying. Ohtori knew enough about the outside to understand that it was not a perfect world, either, but he would have liked to go there, and see what it was like. There, people lived long enough to deal with things like old age.

What would it be like to be old? He had a feeling he would never find out.

What was it like to live on the outside, in a real house? Were there people out there who could not afford anything better than this? He hoped not. He hoped that out there, everyone was happy.

He hoped that out there, misery did not exist.

-----

"Are you happy, Choutarou?"

Ohtori was as happy as he was ever going to be. "As long as you're with me," he replied. "If you weren't, I would..."

"I'm here," Shishido said. "Don't think about it, okay?"

"I try not to."

They were together, and that was all that mattered. Ohtori loved Shishido so very much, and no one was ever going to take that away from him, ever. He wouldn't let them.

-----

Ohtori hated the fighting, but he was good at it, especially with Shishido at his side.

They were good, and they were undefeated -- until now. Ohtori knew they were going to lose, to twins from Mizuki's gang. Ohtori could tell they were twins even with their helmets in place, because they had the same height and build; and even their movements were the same.

Shishido and Ohtori were good, but somehow these twins had become better.

One of them had Ohtori pinned to the ground, and he watched, helplessly, as the other advanced on Shishido.

No, he wouldn't allow them to take his Shishido away.

Within seconds, he was no longer pinned to the ground. The man holding him was on his back, with the wind knocked out of him. He tried to trip Ohtori, but Ohtori would not be stopped. Not this time.

Ohtori lunged. He was just in time.

Just in time to feel the knife sink into his heart.

He could almost feel Shishido's arms around him, even though he was going numb. He felt very, very cold.

"I promised that they would never take you away from me," Ohtori said. It was hard to talk. He could taste blood in his mouth.

"Oh, shit, Choutarou! Hang in there! Don't die on me, damn it!"

"Do you think God will save me?" Ohtori asked. "Will I get to be with Him?"

"Of course you will, but not yet. Don't leave me!"

"I love you," Ohtori said. "I love you, Ryo." He smiled. His Shishido had always wanted to hear it, and Ohtori would grant that wish before he died.

"I love you too."

Ohtori closed his eyes. He'd saved Shishido. He had no regrets. They'd always been together, and someday they would be together again. Together forever.

-----

Shishido stared out of the window into the night. It was cold and lonely in his bed. He didn't want to go back to it.

"Shishido?"

It was Marui, the pet of the gang. "I...I know how you feel."

"Yeah, I'm sure you do, kid." His parents had been brutally murdered in front of his eyes, years before.

"I'm sorry."

"So am I. We all wish things were different, right?" Shishido sighed. "Things will never be different in gang life, though. It'll never change. Choutarou wanted the fighting to stop. I don't know if it ever will, unless we all die."

That would probably happen, too. He would wait for it.

Wherever you are, Choutarou...it won't be long before I see you again.

All Shishido wanted was to die, but he couldn't; not yet. If he killed himself, Ohtori would never forgive him. The last thing he wanted was for Ohtori to be angry with him. It was only a matter of time before he saw him again, anyway, in whatever existed after death.

There must be something. Ohtori had believed strongly in that. If Ohtori believed, then so would he.

He had always loved Ohtori Choutarou with all of his heart, and he always would.


End file.
